


One National Hero to Another

by TheSovereigntyofReality



Category: Dracula & Related Fandoms, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Mutant characters - Freeform, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Natasha Friendly, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly, Team Tony, mentioned child death, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-20 01:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15523485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSovereigntyofReality/pseuds/TheSovereigntyofReality
Summary: There were enhanced in Romania.They reacted to Captain America, the Winter Soldier, the Falcon, and the Black Panther tearing up their capitol city very quickly.Steve's in for a nasty shock.





	1. The Heroes of Bucharest.

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: If you recognise it from somewhere else, it isn't mine.**

The tunnel collapsed behind them.

Steve was barely aware of it. He was more concerned with the man that suddenly leapt at Bucky on the bike his friend had just appropriated. The man grabbed Bucky and tore him from the motorbike. They hit the ground and Bucky fell limp. Steve pulled his shield back to throw it but he suddenly felt pain rip right through him. The next thing he knew he was on the ground, his entire body aching.

There were lines of red liquid circling his arms in front of him. When he tried to move, he found they were just like cuffs – except they didn’t give when he pulled against them. No matter how hard he yanked, they did not yield to his strength. Steve looked around, frantically seeking out Bucky.

He found him, exactly where he’d been knocked out. He was sitting up now, a sizeable bruise on the side of his face. But he was cuffed with the same red stuff that they’d caught Steve in. There didn’t seem to be as much on him though. Steve looked around for his shield. Sam was down too, his wings removed from him and being held by the same bonds.  
Steve vaguely noticed that he looked kind of unfocused.

There was also a guy in a black suit that was struggling against his own bonds. The man seemed deranged and violent.

There were people milling around too, all in uniform. One of them stood over Steve, a gun in hand.

‘Hey, what’s going on?’ Steve demanded.

The man just glanced at him. Otherwise, he didn’t move and he didn’t acknowledge him.

‘Don’t ignore me! What’d you do to Bucky?!’

Still nothing.

‘Hey, don’t ignore me!’ Steve started struggling again.

‘Did it occur to you that he might not speak English?’ An accented voice asked from behind him.

Steve twisted his head again. A man with sharp features, deep-set brown eyes, and shoulder-length dark brown hair was approaching. He was dressed in much the same way Tony was during special occasions – in a pressed three-piece suit. Steve was shocked when the man standing over him immediately stood at attention and then bowed. He looked awestruck at this new arrival. It was the same look people got in America when they recognised just who Steve was.

The guard began speaking in a language – Steve presumed it was the local one. The man, who deeply unsettled Steve, responded in kind. He completely ignored Steve’s demands and conversed only with the guard. As he finished up the conversation and went to walk past them, the guard suddenly called out, ‘ _Voivode_?’ and quickly asked something, pulling something out of his pocket.

The man asked something. The man he’d called “voivode” smiled and took it. Steve saw it was a card of some kind. “Voivode” pulled a marker out of somewhere and signed the card before handing it back. The guard looked almost beside himself with happiness as he seemed to thank the other man and allow him on his way.

“Voivode” walked over and joined a man and girl who both seemed to be about half his age. They were both dark-haired and dark-eyed but lacked the severe sharpness of his features. Certainly, both had long, straight noses and seemed equal to him in physical height. But they weren’t as imposing as this “voivode”. They seemed to talk amongst themselves. Steve studied them, trying to get some kind of cues from them but he got nothing.

Then Rhodey arrived.

Rhodey glared at Rogers before he walked over to the group where Steve heard the introductions. ‘These are our local superheroes, colonel,’ one of the uniformed men said. He introduced first the young man. ‘ _Printul de multe daruri_.’

‘Call me Radu,’ the man said. Steve realised it was the same one who’d attacked Bucky!

Then came the girl. ‘ _Pazboinicul printesa de sange_.’

‘Crina,’ she said.

‘And their father, _Printul Intuneicului_.’

“Voivode” nodded his head. ‘Vlad.’

***

It wasn’t surprising for Tony to hear that Romania had its own team of superheroes.

Rogers, on the other hand, seemed shocked that such a thing should occur. As Tony tried to reason with Rogers, he found that he had allies in the form of both Crina and Radu.  
Apparently, Steve didn’t like Radu on principle. ‘You attacked Bucky,’ he said with disapproval.

Unlike every other person Steve had used that look on, though, Radu was unaffected. ‘Bucky had just torn a civilian off of his motorcycle and threw him into oncoming traffic in order to acquire the vehicle. Would you like to justify that to the man’s family?’ He checked his watch. ‘The authorities should be notifying them of his death right about now.’

Rogers did a rather artful impression of a landed fish for a moment. ‘Bucky didn’t mean for him to die! He was scared! They were going to kill him!’

‘And yet,’ Crina leaned on the table, ‘he’s still alive. He’s been pulled into custody and he’s not been killed. On the other hand, do you know where all that blood I got to tie you down with came from? It came from the bodies of the people you, Barnes, and the Black Panther killed on your little rampage through the tunnel.’

Steve looked appalled. ‘You took blood from corpses to tie us down?!’

‘That’s what you got?’ Crina demanded. ‘Not that you killed civilians; that innocent men, women, and children were killed on account of you, but that their blood had to be used to tie you down and stop you from killing more people!’

Steve shook his head. ‘We can’t save everybody, but—’

Radu cut him off. ‘Those people would never have been in danger if you hadn’t been there. Stop making excuses, and own up to your screw-ups. People are dead, because of you. Children are orphans, because of you. Parents have lost their children and now have to bury them, because of you.’

The more these two refused to put up with Steve’s bullshit, the more Tony realised that Steve was used to getting away with bullshit. He said these kinds of things all the time, but nobody called him out on it. Now that somebody was, it was obvious that Steve had gotten used to justifying his mistakes and walking away scot-free without so much as a by-your-leave. But this wasn’t America.

This was a country that regarded Vlad the Impaler a national hero while the rest of the world considered him a tyrant.

Who was to say the same thing couldn’t be said for Captain America.

‘They were going to kill Bucky!’

‘And yet, once again, he’s not dead.’ Radu took a firm hold on his shoulder. (Radu was strong enough to knock Barnes out so he was certainly strong enough for Cap) ‘Do you know what the phrase “conflict of interest” means?’ At Rogers’ blank look, he continued. ‘It refers to the fact that if one has an emotional investment in something they should not be involved. It is enforced across all fields. You are emotionally attached to Barnes, so you never should have come here.’

Rogers went to protest.

‘And that’s exactly what the Accords want to help mitigate,’ Tony said.

Steve got the mulish look on his face. ‘The Accords turn us into government lapdogs. I’m not signing.’

‘The Accords are a UN document,’ Crina said as if this should be obvious.

‘I know that. They’ve got an agenda.’

Crina frowned. ‘Rogers...you do realise what the United Nations is...don’t you?’

‘A bunch of governmental paper pushers trying to bully the Avengers into being their own personal attack dogs.’

Tony sighed. Figured, he didn’t have any clue what the UN was. ‘Rogers, the United Nations are an international peace-keeping organisation that are comprised of representatives from most of the countries on earth. They see to human rights and humanitarian efforts. They are _not_ a government.’

‘Then why are they working for Ross?’ Rogers challenged him. ‘Come to think of it, why are _you_ working for Ross?’

‘Thaddeus Ross is the American Secretary of State,’ Radu stated. ‘What choice does he have?’

‘There’s always a choice!’ Steve insisted.

Crina’s eyes narrowed, and then she straightened up. ‘Mr. Stark, a word?’

Tony got up and followed her out of the room. He saw Steve try to follow, only to be held in his seat (much to his indignation) by Radu. When they got outside, Crina rubbed her temples. ‘What idiot put that twit in charge of a team of superheroes?’ she asked tightly. ‘He obviously understands nothing about the current political climate, law, psychology, or even how the world in general works. And he certainly has no respect for sovereign borders. No one was expecting him to come running in when we went to apprehend Barnes.’

Tony had figured they’d been called in to help detain an enhanced man. If he was in Romania, it made sense to get help from the Romanian enhanced team. Tony shrugged. ‘Nick Fury. I think he was hoping to get people behind the Avengers with Cap at their head.’

‘Well, it was stupid,’ Crina said. ‘That man thinks nothing of injuring civilians if his friend is in danger. I bet the world could burn and he wouldn’t care as long as that one guy was safe. I don’t know a lot about Project Rebirth but I know the man who had the serum had escaped from Germany.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Mr. Stark, I know your father was involved in the Project so you must have grown up hearing about how great he was, but you must’ve seen that there.’

Tony slowly nodded. ‘I think we gave him too much leeway. I mean, until that conversation back there I never really thought about it. During the battle of Sokovia, he wanted us to make sure no civilian died.’

Crina gave him a flat look. ‘Did he ask you to reverse the turn of the earth while you were at it?’

Tony cringed.

Crina sighed again. ‘Mr. Stark, is it true that you are no longer an Avenger?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then why are you still bankrolling them?’ Crina asked. ‘If you aren’t, then where in hell did they get the money to get from wherever they came from to Bucharest before the local authorities found them? Why are you here, fixing this mess? And why did Romanoff seem to expect it of you?’

Good questions. He was, officially, no longer an Avenger. Yet he still paid for and maintained them. He was still cleaning up their messes. Business had taught him that once something was behind you, you didn’t deal with it again. Yet he seemed to be forever chasing after the Avengers and trying to mitigate. Natasha had made some remarks earlier that made it clear (that she thought) it was his responsibility to deal with this.

Crina must have heard her.

‘I don’t know.’

‘No, you’re a genius. People like you are somewhat notorious for poor social skills. Shall I tell you?’ She waited for his non-verbal affirmation. ‘They don’t want you on the team, but they still want your money and resources. You’re not a person to them; you’re a tool.’ She inclined her head. ‘I say, if they’re going to act like a bunch of whiny spoilt brats, they should be punished like whiny, spoilt brats.’

At that moment the power cut out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because of the enhanced here, they never leave Romania.
> 
> Instead, everything happens in the offices for the Romanian authorities.
> 
> I can't remember if the tunnel was collapsed before or after Bucky stole the motorbike. Either way, he gets knocked out after the tunnel collapses.
> 
> I might be being a little harsh towards TeamCap, but I don't think I am.


	2. Nemuritorii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nemuritorii: The Immortals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting these as I finish the chapters. ;)
> 
> I'm expecting 4 or 5 chapters. We'll see how I go.

The baseline people ran away from the rampaging Winter Soldier.

‘Nemuritorii!’ several of them called at once. ‘Nemuritorii!’

Tony and Crina ran down together. Tony presumed that “Nemuritorii” must have been the name of the team Crina, Vlad, and Radu were a part of. It was making a very interesting picture, the more pieces he got. “Nemuritorii” literally translated to “the immortals”. And when you translated their independent names, Vlad was “the Prince of Darkness” (further cementing Tony’s suspicions), Crina was “the Blood Warrior Princess” and Radu was “the Prince of many gifts”.

It was a well-known idea that everything had some basis in truth.

They spun around the corner to see Romanoff and some blonde woman already charging at him. The blonde was thrown back immediately. She hit the wall and was instantly knocked out. Romanoff took advantage of the Winter Soldier’s distraction and jump him. She clamped her legs to his head and began hitting him. She may as well have been tapping him from his reaction though. He spun around and pinned her to a table. His hand wrapped around her throat.

As this was happening, Tony whispered, ‘Can you stop him from here?’

‘No,’ Crina whispered back. ‘That metal arm’s going to give me trouble, and that’s not even mentioning the serum. Hell, it took about three minutes for me to affect Rogers.’

Romanoff could be strangled to death by then, Tony mused as he watched the Soldier squeeze her throat.

With no choice, Tony activated his watch. The gauntlet folded out and enveloped his hand. Tony shot out and fired, hitting the Soldier straight in the face and knocking him off of Romanoff. The fight was quick as Tony blocked the metal fist. However, the Soldier’s legs were sluggish and his flesh and blood arm didn’t move. He was even beginning to grow pale in the face.

 _BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!_ The Soldier suddenly discharged the handgun in his flesh hand into the floor. Tony still found himself flying back with a sharp pain, numbed only by adrenaline, in his arm. He hit the wall but he wasn’t knocked out like the blonde woman had been. He was able to recover quickly enough to look up when he heard the snarl.

Vlad leapt clear across the room and slammed into the Soldier.

Then, there was silence. Tony presumed, like his son, Vlad had knocked the Soldier out. He was proven right when, a moment later, Vlad stood up and slung the super-soldier assassin over his shoulder. He went back towards the cells. Crina dropped down next to Tony and took a hold on his injured arm.

‘Broken,’ she said. ‘Come on.’ She helped him up and took him to the med-bay, ignoring his protests.

Finally, as his arm was being set, Tony sighed and asked. ‘So what is your power?’

‘Blood manipulation,’ Crina said. ‘And it’s a mutation, not a power.’

Tony looked at her quizzically.

Crina cracked a grin. ‘We can do what we do because of a mutation in our DNA. The planet is covered with people like us but most of them get the short end of the stick. These days, my family is in a good place but we were once subject to the same persecution as the rest of our kind.’

‘Your kind?’

‘Mutants. The persecution is exactly why a huge chunk of the population went underground and deny their own existence.’

‘What happened?’ Tony asked.

‘To my family?’ She waited for his nod. Crina folded her hands on her head. ‘My sister was born with bright blue skin, as some mutants are, and had to live in seclusion until we found a community of other mutants for her to live among. One brother was...executed for researching the history of mutants. Yet another was born with bloodlessness. He was murdered by a mob at age four.’

Tony froze.

‘Yes,’ Crina said. ‘It’s that bad.’

***

Bucky’s mind swum. He knew what had happened before he even peeked his eyes open. He was cuffed even more firmly than he had been before – good thing too. This time, there were guards in the room, rather than outside it. And he was looking directly at a man somewhere in his forties with sharp features and deep-set eyes.

‘Identify yourself,’ the man said.

‘James Bachanan Barnes,’ Bucky said.

The man nodded. ‘Explain what happened.’

Bucky did. He told them about the Doctor, and what he’d wanted.

The man turned and gave an order to one of the guards. The man nodded and left immediately. The first man turned back around. ‘He will be intercepted on his way to Siberia. You had never seen this man before?’

‘No.’

The door opened and the man from before – the one who’d knocked him out in the city – walked in.

‘Radu,’ the older man said, ‘get the other one under control?’

‘In a manner of speaking.’ Radu gave him a dry look. ‘Your little friend there really can’t take no for an answer, can he?’

Steve. Of course. Vague memories filtered back to him. ‘I got a feeling he never could.’

Radu nodded and looked at the other man. ‘Crina’s right. That man should never have been put in charge of a team of superheroes.’

Some part of him – the small part that was left of Bucky Barnes from Brooklyn – balked at the very thought of Steve in charge of such a group.

The older man sighed. ‘How long until he regains consciousness?’

***

Tony was ignoring them.  
Steve glared at him though the glass that let them see into the office where Tony, Rhodes, and the three Romanians were sitting and talking. Tony was on the phone. They weren’t allowed into the room – him, Sam, and Natasha. And they refused to tell Steve where they’d locked Bucky up into. Apparently, Steve didn’t have clearance.

Steve turned his head as Natasha strode down the hall.

‘Well?’ he demanded.

Nat shook her head. ‘Apparently, Vlad had given orders that no one is to tell us anything. And these people are taking orders from him.’

The other names were too hard for Steve to remember. He just wished he knew what their last names were. But Nat was right. They were probably all the same last name. Vlad had been referred to as Crina and Radu’s father. Either way, it was very annoying. Even Natasha hadn’t been able to get any answers.

Who the hell was this guy?

Steve sighed. ‘Then I guess we’ll need to push our way in.’

Natasha shook her head. ‘Have you seen those three? Two of them can beat up super-soldiers and the first time you were knocked out without either of them ever touching you.’

Steve nodded. ‘We need some extra help.’

***

The family was known across Romania.

The people of Romania had named them Nemuritorii because they had been here, defending the nation as they could for 500 years. They had never pretended to be perfect. They had never pretended to be more than they were. They were heroes not because they declared themselves to be so. (They did not.) They were heroes because the public had declared them as such.

For nearly 300 years, they had worked along with legitimate law enforcement to protect the country. But, in that time, they had also been Romania’s most closely guarded secret.   
They had learned the history of the family and the fact that they had still stood and defended their country had been met with awe.

Four of the voivode’s legitimate children had been killed, by their own people, and yet...Here they stood. They had stood against threats that were too much for baseline humans to handle. Even before the Irish Bram Stoker had published that novel bearing their voivode’s moniker, they had known and relied on him.

Nemuritorii had never pretended to have absolute power.

When war came, they didn’t pretend they could stop it. And they treated anyone who tried to suggest as such with the appropriate disdain. No single person could stop a war.   
Wars were a matter of politics. So, when the World Wars broke out, no one questioned them sitting back and staying out of it.

After the conclusion of both wars, they had thrown themselves into restoring the country to its former state (as much as was possible).

All that was to say that Nemuritorii, the very first team of heroes in the world (or enhanced, as one might prefer) had never pretended they were above the common man. If anything, they viewed themselves to have a _responsibility_ to the common man. While they no longer ruled over them, they still protected them.

Romania would then view, as they surfaced, other teams, and judge them against their own. Many were all right. They used their powers in an official capacity, usually in line with the governments of their countries. Then, along came the Avengers. In truth, the Avengers were one of the last groups to form.

And Tony Stark was the only one among them who was not viewed to see his duty to the people as a game.

Only Tony Stark was taken at all seriously by the other nations and teams of enhanced.

Because he was the only one that took responsibility for the actions and damages of the team.

***

‘Okay, good. Thank you. Yeah, we’ll be in touch.’ Tony hung up.

‘They got him?’ Rhodey asked.

‘Helmut Zemo,’ Tony said. ‘He’s a Sokovian.’

Rhodey winced. Vlad, Radu, and Crina had critical looks on their faces. The nice thing about this bunch was that they got even subtle implications without needing to have it explained to them. It was a nice change of pace from Rogers.

It really drove the point home about how unfit for command, to borrow the military phrase, Rogers was.

‘Let me guess,’ Radu said. ‘Someone he loved died in Ultron’s little stunt?’

‘His whole family,’ Tony said. ‘He’d apparently decided to tear the Avengers apart on account of it. He framed Barnes for bombing Vienna and triggered him here.’

Vlad nodded. ‘We already had it confirmed that the man who went in to see him was _not_ Dr. Broussard. It must’ve been Zemo.’

‘And Dr. Broussard?’ Rhodey asked.

‘Found dead in his motel room, along with a very convincing Bucky Barnes mask.’ Crina shrugged. ‘I’d say he wanted you to find out that Barnes was framed. All of this seems to have been a massive set-up.’

Radu smirked. ‘Do you disparage him?’

‘Have you seen us?’ Crina asked, slouching back in her chair – and promptly correcting her posture at a glare from her father. ‘We’re so predisposed towards vengeance it should have been our last name.’

Tony cracked a grin. ‘What is your last name anyway?’

Vlad grinned right back. ‘Tepes.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While Vlad's mutations is pretty obvious, Radu's will be explored soon. It's a lot more complicated than it looks.


	3. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few people get a reality check.
> 
> Clint goes to get Wanda.

**Wakanda**  
‘What are you talking about?’ T’Challa asked.

Shuri sighed. ‘It seems this “diplomatic immunity” thing is given out on a state-by-state basis. While a lot of countries did hand it to you and father, Romania was not one of them. Apparently, their local superheroes were dubious about handing diplomatic immunity to an absolute monarch and his heir, so their government didn’t do it.’

T’Challa sat back.

‘The advisors,’ Shuri said, ‘stressed how lucky it was that they just asked you to leave the country the first time and then forcibly booted you out the second time and barred you from ever entering their country again. They could have arrested you and put you on trial for reckless endangerment, manslaughter, and attempted murder.’

‘He killed our father!’ T’Challa insisted.

‘As it turns out, he didn’t.’ Shuri held her hand out. One of the Dora handed her a tablet and she showed it to T’Challa. The tablet detailed the report and evidence of a man called Helmut Zemo, who had impersonated the Winter Soldier and planted the bomb in Vienna. He had then broken into the facility where Sgt. Barnes was being held and triggered him.

‘He’s was apprehended at Moscow airport,’ Shuri told him as he finished reading. ‘Russia is not kind to their criminals so you can be assurred he’s not having a nice time.’

‘He should be dead!’ T’Challa went to stand up.

Shuri pushed him back down. ‘Not so fast. You went charging into Romania for the wrong man. You weren’t expecting the three enhanced that stopped you – both times. What is there to say that there isn’t a similar group in Russia? You remember how that ended last time?’

T’Challa lifted his hand to the bandage on his neck.

After he’d been asked to leave the first time, following his attack on the Winter Soldier, he had pointedly refused. Only to be told by Radu Tepes informing him that a request that he leave was simply a polite way of kicking him out of the country. If he didn’t leave, they would stop being nice about it.

T’Challa had stormed off.

But he’d returned in order to kill Barnes, only to be intercepted by Radu’s father. ‘You,’ he’d said, ‘were asked to leave.’

T’Challa had attacked, ready to knock the man out of his way.

Instead, he found himself dodged and slammed face-first into a wall. His arms were immobilised and, as he struggled, the collar of the Black Panther suit was pulled down. Then there was a sharp sting in his neck. The Romanian sealed his lips around the wound and began drinking his blood until he passed out.

T’Challa had woken up, half-way back home with a very firm statement that if he set foot in Romania again he would be arrested and tried according to their laws. As well as a snide comment that he ought to learn something about jurisdiction before charging into other countries with the idea that he could do what he liked.

‘Russia,’ Shuri pulled him out of his thoughts, ‘has already recinded your diplomatic immunity in their borders. If you were to enter the country and attack Zemo, you would be arrested and tried under their laws. As I said, they are not kind to criminals. Your being the King of Wakanda would mean nothing to them.’

‘Recinded?’ T’Challa demanded.

‘Apparently, you actions in Romania have left the rest of the world with the impression that Romania was correct in refusing you diplomatic immunity. If they haven’t recinded it, they are in the process of doing so. You’ve even been used as an example for outsiders to use to show their children just how...bad things used to be, because you can do what you like. That includes trying to kill someone without confirming he’d done what he’d been accused of.’

T’Challa scowled. ‘There was a video tape. I had no way of knowing it was faked.’

Shuri sighed. ‘Be that as it may, while you ran off half-cocked, there was an investigation into the matter. The Winter Soldier killed without detection for about 70 years. Suddenly he’s caught on tape?’ She shook her head. ‘Unlikely. Your problem is you always have to do something, rather than sit down and talk.’

T’Challa pulled a face.

Shuri frowned. ‘I know you dislike politics, brother. I was speaking to Crina Tepes earlier. When I told her you weren’t inclined towards diplomacy, she made a very valid point. In her words, you need to “get over it”. If we look back on history, we find that any ruler who held any disdain for diplomacy did not last long at all on the world stage.’

T’Challa scowled.

‘Scowl all you like, it is true,’ Shuri said. ‘Look for yourself. It is true.’

***

As Shuri stepped into her rooms, she sighed to herself.

Truth be told, she had not liked that conversation with Crina Tepes. The woman was older than her, yes, but she also made far too much sense for Shuri’s liking. When Shuri had referred to her as a coloniser, the woman had smiled, almost condescendingly, and informed her that Romania had not engaged in the colonial era. They had never colonised any place. They were too far inland to be concerned with such things.

The second thing that she’d said had come when Crina had found out what Shuri did, and she’d asked about her peer-reviewed research. The term had been unfamiliar to Shuri and, after a bit of back and forth, Crina’s face had lit up with understanding. On the other end of the transmission, the woman had chuckled and sat back.

‘I know something about absolute monarchies,’ Crina said. ‘A lot of people don’t argue with you, and don’t challenge you, because they’re afraid you’ll put them to death. And that’s how you prove scientific theorems: by being challenged and reviewed. I will acknowledge that your country is more scientifically advanced than the rest of the world, but I do wonder how much your stocks of vibranium has to do with that. Are you only advanced because this is where a meteor happened to land all those years ago?’ She’d then stood up. ‘Food for thought.’ And she’d cut off the transmission.

It had left Shuri feeling very young and unsure.

***

 **Bucharest, Romania**  
Tony worked out of the apartment, which was usually set aside for the Tepes family.

Radu was watching the news in the background. Crina was sitting opposite him, on a laptop computer. Natasha was drifting about, drinking a cup of coffee. The door opened and Vlad walked in. He was signing off on something using an iPad. As he did, he nodded to them. Tony glanced up in acknowledgement. His two kids waved.

Romanoff eyed him calculatively. He ignored her.

Since they’d shown him all known data on Black Widows, Tony had viewed Natasha Romanoff far more critically than he had before. She had been raised all her life to be the perfect killer. She was dehumanised and deprived of human connection. All very sad in itself, but it also said quite a lot for her mental state.

Talking to Rhodey about it, his best friend had agreed that she had seemed to view everyone and everything as something to manipulate. FRIDAY had dug up a psych profile that S.H.I.E.L.D. had made on her. Romanoff was incapable of making human connections, and her prime concern seemed to be her own self-preservation.

Trusting her had been stupid. She’d only signed the Accords because she thought it would benefit her. The second she thought something else would, she would jump on that. It was the same thing she’d done with the Red Room and S.H.I.E.L.D. That was why Tony was blocking her out. He couldn’t trust her with anything.

He never should have covered her arse following the data-dump.

Though, finding out several Black Widows had been sent after his dad (before he’d married his mom) was quite...interesting.

Tony was currently reading several reports of these events.

Vlad walked over to the small kitchenette in the apartment...and stopped. He looked in the sink and then he turned. He finally looked at Romanoff. ‘Why are there coffee grounds in the sink?’

Tony scoffed. ‘Yeah, she does that at the Compound too.’

Romanoff shrugged. ‘Don’t you have cleaning staff? That’s their job.’

Vlad’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you telling me you can’t do a basic thing like throwing coffee grounds into the trash disposal because “it’s the cleaning staff’s job”?’ He just about snarled as he pointed at the sink. ‘Clean it up!’

Romanoff smiled, almost demurely. She looked like a spoilt brat who thought she could do what she liked, Tony mused. She looked like one of those girls at the parties he went to as a kid – the girls both his parents had not wanted him associating with – who did nasty things out of spite and knew they wouldn’t be punished for it. There was a crucial difference here though. Romanoff turned her nose up. ‘It’s not my job.’

Crina merely looked over her shoulder. Romanoff’s skin suddenly went very pale. Her expression shifted and she gasped and her knees buckled. From the couch, Radu lifted a hand. As the spy assassin went down, her coffee mug stayed in the air. Romanoff hit the carpet with a thud. Her coffee mug floated across the air and gently settled on the bench.   
Vlad casually leaned on the sink as he watched Romanoff gasp and blink.

In the next instant, the colour returned to Romanoff’s skin. She began to cough and slowly pushed herself up. She winced and looked around. Tony found himself idly wondering if Crina had stopped her blood flow or merely drained a fraction of it from some extremities. Ordinarily, Tony might be horrified at such a thing but after everything Romanoff had done to him and his...well, the schadenfreude was strong.

Besides, he knew the Tepes family would not seriously hurt her – not for something so small anyway.

Once Natasha recovered sufficiently, she looked around.

‘Clean up your mess,’ Crina said, ‘or I’ll do it again.’ She said it without a hint of emotion in her voice, and without ever looking at Romanoff.

Romanoff was used to threats and Crina would know that. Tony had seen Romanoff call out people for empty threats (and sometimes not so empty). But she must have been really intimidated by Crina. When Vlad opened the cupboard underneath the sink and pulled out the unclogging kit for her, she took it from his outstretched hand and started working.   
She shot a few looked at Tony, as if expecting him to say something.

Tony ignored her.

***

At about five in the morning, Tony’s cell phone rang and woke him up.

Tony sat up and flipped it open. ‘Hello?’

‘Mr. Stark, there’s been an attack on the compound.’

‘What?’ Suddenly Tony was wide awake. ‘What happened?’

The head of the Compound’s security looked uncomfortable. ‘I think I better show you the footage. Sending it now.’

Tony flipped open his laptop and opened his email to recieve the footage. What he saw was Clint Barton break into the Compound and then talk Wanda into attacking Vision. And, to be honest, it wasn’t that hard for him. Wanda then threw Vision down through 19 floors of solid concrete. Tony quickly turned back to his phone. ‘Is he all right?’

‘He seems rather...dazed. He was knocked out for around about twenty minutes.’

‘Can I talk to him?’

A moment later, he was looking at Vision’s carefully blank face. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘I am...confused, Mr. Stark. I thought Miss Maximoff understood her position, but...should I have been more clear?’

Tony sighed, but let it go for now. ‘It isn’t rocket science, Vision. People are dead, people are angry, she’d start a riot if she went out onto the streets. It was matter of public safety. Very simple.’

‘Public safety.’ Vision slowly nodded. ‘Yes, but she seemed only concerned with herself. She told me that she would win if anyone attacked her.’

Tony sighed again. ‘That’s the problem. Look, if you need to talk...’

‘I am unsure how I would express my feelings, Mr. Stark.’

Tony nodded. ‘I feel like that every day.’ He gave a light smile.

Vision hesitantly returned it.

‘Look, what she did to you is classified as assault,’ Tony explained. ‘I don’t expect you to go near her again, if you don’t want to. If it makes you feel better, you can pack up and move to the Tower.’

‘I think...I would like that, thank you. I’m very uncomfortable in this place right now.’

Tony sighed, this time in relief. ‘If you need to talk to anyone in the Tower about it, there are plenty of people. Happy’s always good.’

‘Thank you, Mr. Stark.’

After a few more words, Tony and Vision hung up. Then Tony called Happy to let him know what’d happened and that Vision was coming to the Tower. That done, Tony rolled out of bed and quickly dressed. He had a pretty good idea what was going on. Despite what Rogers thought, he was not the tactical genius he thought himself to be.

If history was to be believed though, there was a _real_ tactical genius practically next door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A common complaint I see with vampire bites is that sinking the fangs in would not allow the vampire to get the blood. So I thought, if they used the fangs to make the wound and then drank from it that would be far more practical.
> 
> Then again, I don't really know how a vampire bat does it.
> 
> Most, if not all, documentaries I've seen on Vlad the Impaler seem to agree that he was a tactical genius, which is what Tony's referring to in the last line. Tony is very sure that this Vlad Tepes and Vlad the Impaler are the same person. He just lacks confirmation from the man himself.


	4. Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Co. break in to the cell block where Bucky is...was being kept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sam didn't think of Scott because they knew where Bucky was and they were, technically, already in the building. Why would they need him for anything? So Steve just sent Clint to go and get Wanda.

Bucky looked up as Mr. Tepes stepped into his feild of vision. ‘Your friend is calling a strike force to move you from here.’

Bucky winced. ‘I’d move, but I can’t risk going anywhere without the triggers.’

Vlad Tepes inclined his head. ‘If it helps, I can numb them in your brain.’

Bucky frowned, curious and apprehensive. ‘How?’ So far, Mr. Tepes had been fairly reassuring and he’d given no indication that he would want to harm Bucky.

‘I’m a mutant. I have the power to do it.’

Slowly, Bucky nodded. He suddenly found himself transfixed by the other man’s brown eyes.

***

Steve quickly opened the door for Clint and Wanda. ‘Glad you could make it.’

‘Sure, Cap,’ Clint said. ‘So where’s your friend?’

‘Nat’s tracked him down. All we have to do is get down there.’

Wanda nodded, red sparking around her hand, and began walking through the building. The lack of guards on the way down made Steve uneasy. He also saw, out of the corner of his eye, Clint’s hands tightened on his bow and arrow and Nat’s hands went to her own weapons. Sam also looked tense as they made their way down. Wanda’s eyes narrowed.

Everyone was expecting an ambush.

They came down to the room, led by Natasha and Wanda. It was only then they saw anyone. The three Romanian enhanced stood in the room. Vlad stood in the centre. Crina stood on his left and Radu stood on his right. Despite the fact that they were outnumbered five on three, none of them looked particularly nervous.

Steve stepped forward. ‘Where’s Bucky?’

‘He’s been moved,’ Vlad said. ‘When we heard that the Vision had been thrown down though 19 floors of solid concrete by the Scarlet Witch here, it was quite obvious what you were doing. We found out at about five o’clock this morning.’ He checked his wristwatch. ‘I’m sorry. Yesterday morning.’

Natasha’s face tightened. ‘That’s why you were sneaking around all day.’

Crina inclined her head. ‘Well, I’d hardly call it sneaking. You just didn’t have clearance. We could hardly plan a counter-attack if you knew about it, could we?’

Steve glared at them. ‘What have you done to Bucky?!’

‘Relax,’ Radu said. ‘We haven’t hurt him. He’s perfectly safe.’

Steve’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t believe you.’

‘That,’ Vlad folded his arms, ‘is irrelevant.’

In anger, Steve attacked. The Avengers followed his lead. Steve charged right at Vlad. Natasha quickly said something to Clint as she and Wanda attacked Radu. Clint and Sam went after Crina. Steve was surprised to find his punch blocked and Vlad’s boot into his chest actually knocked the wind out of him. Steve found himself flying back.

Vlad was stronger than he looked.

***

Nat’s warning about Crina being able to knock her down with only her mind was enough for Clint to decide to take her from a distance. Especially when he immediately saw Sam’s body buckle to the ground when he charged. So, instead of trying to fight her close range, he raised his bow and arrow.

Then the weirdest thing happened. His fingers began to grow numb. He glanced down. His head then began to get light. In the next instant, he lost his grip on his weapons and they tumbled to the ground. Clint struggled to stay upright. He looked up as the Romanian woman idly wondered forward. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she was draining his blood from his fingers and head.

Her hand suddenly was on his collar. She yanked him up. ‘Clint Barton, isn’t it? Weren’t you retired? Your age, I’d think you have a family you retired to.’

Idly, Clint realised that it was a resonable conclusion. He was only in his 40s. Why else would he retire than to look after his family? The other option was that Tony could have told her. Nat and Steve both had said that Tony was getting pretty chummy with these guys. There was something in her eyes, though; something that frightened even a seasoned sniper like him.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, voice low and cold.

‘Cap called for back-up,’ he said. ‘What would you expect me to do?’

Crina kicked him onto his back. ‘So you come running, and abandon your family, because Captain America whistles...like a good little doggie. Are you a dog, Mr. Barton?’

Clint ground his teeth.

Suddenly red wrapped around Crina and threw her back. She hit the wall. Suddenly, the blood rushed back. Clint gasped and rolled. Looked like Wanda had finished with Radu and come to their aid. Clint rolled over, pushing back the nausea that Crina had forced on him, and looked up. Sure, enough, there was Wanda.

What he wasn’t expecting was Crina’s chipper voice. ‘Oh, what lovely powers!’

Wanda looked surprised, like she wasn’t sure what to make of the compliment. Clint looked at her. She was leaning up, with a wide grin. _What the hell?_ What was she playing at? She then looked over Wanda’s shoulder. ‘Aren’t they lovely powers, Radu?’

Wait, she hadn’t taken him down first? Clint twisted around again. Radu had just knocked Nat unconscious against the wall. ‘Yeah.’ Then he _super-sped_ at Wanda. Before Clint could so much as call out a warning, Radu had a dagger in his hand. He reached across and cut Wanda across the upper arm. She cried out in pain but Radu’s hand clamped over the wound.

Radu smirked. ‘I think I’ll take them for a spin.’

***

Wanda followed Natasha at the younger Romanian man.

While Natasha went for the physical attack, Wanda shot out with her powers. She sought out the man’s fears to amplify them and paralyse him...but then she hit a wall. Not literally. It was as if his mind had some sort of a blockage around it. She sought out an opening with her powers as Natasha fought the man who did not fall for any of her tricks, but there was nothing.

Not even his emotions leaked through.

Wanda found herself petrified. She had never met anyone her powers couldn’t touch. Even Clint, though he’d needed a different approach, had been susceptible to them. How was she meant to fight somebody that she couldn’t affect? It was impossible! Quickly looking around, she saw that the man’s sister had already knocked down Clint and Sam, and was talking down to Clint.

That was better.

Wanda threw her into the wall. Clint and Sam immediately seemed to recover. Sam rubbed his eyes and took deep breath. Clint rolled over onto his stomach and began gasping for breath, the colour returning to his cheeks. Then, suddenly, the sister sat up from where she’d fallen with a wide grin on her face.

‘Oh, what lovely powers!’

What? Wanda stared at her, trying to see what was going on in her mind. All she heard, though, was the mantra of “do it, do it, do it”. Do what? Who was she even talking to, or whatever it was? She didn’t know Wanda could read minds. And she wouldn’t want Wanda to do anything in particular...would she?

The woman looked over her shoulder. ‘Aren’t they lovely powers, Radu?’

There was a thud behind Wanda. ‘Yeah.’ The next thing Wanda knew there was a sharp sting in her forarm. She cried out in pain, but Radu’s hand wrapped firmly around the cut he’d just sliced into her skin. ‘I think I’ll take them for a spin.’

Wanda spun around to knock him back. But suddenly the scene before her eyes changed. She suddenly found herself alone. Well, not entirely. She looked around, and screamed. Pietro’s dead body laid just a few feet away from her. She scrambled over to him. His voice echoed over the void they were in as she dropped to her knees beside him.

‘We’ve killed, Wanda. We’ve become the monsters we accused Stark of being. Now we must suffer the fate of monsters.’

Moaning drew her attention and she turned her head. ‘No...’ She backed away from the hoard that ambled towards her. There were so many of them. Some faces she knew; some she didn’t. The faces she recognised were all people she’d killed for HYDRA. They all chanted “murderer, murderer” at her. She backed up until she hit a wall. ‘It’s not my fault!’ she cried out to them.

‘Murderer! Murderer!’

Then other voices joined in.

‘Monster!’

‘You are a monster!’

‘Tony Stark is a hero!’

‘You wasted your life! You are nothing!’

And they converged on her.

They converged on her until she couldn’t breathe.

In the next instant, Wanda found herself on the cold floor of the bunker. She heard Clint and Sam calling out to her. She opened her eyes and looked up. Radu and Crina were standing over her, looking at the red glow on Radu’s hands – the very same glow Wanda produced. That meant that he’d...He couldn’t have!

‘That felt nasty,’ Radu said. ‘I might go to the Kamar-Taj after this.’

‘Until then,’ Crina suggested, ‘maybe you’d better stick to the telekinetic part of her powers.’

‘Good idea.’

He lifted his hands. Suddenly, all of the Avengers were trapped by Wanda’s own power.

***

Steve charged at Vlad again. This time the other man side-stepped and swung his arm out, hitting him in the throat. Steve was knocked clear off his feet and hit his head as he landed on the floor. Despite the pain in his throat, Steve jumped up again and tried to attack. It was beyond irritating because, as Vlad kept knocking him back, the Romanian man seemed distracted by the other fights in the room.

Then he smirked.

Suddenly Steve found himself pinned to the floor. The red bonds looked like Wanda’s powers. Betrayed, Steve looked over at her...to find she was tied down too. It wasn’t her! He looked around wildly, seeking out the source of this. His eyes landed on Radu, standing there with a red glow around his hands – just like Wanda’s.

‘What...?’ Radu had the same powers?

‘Blood transcendency,’ Vlad said, drawing his attention back. ‘When my son draws the blood of an enhanced, and then touches the blood he drew, he gains the powers of that enhanced.’

Steve looked at Wanda again. This time, his eyes were drawn to the cut on her upper arm. It was still weeping blood. He looked back at Vlad, horrified. ‘Why would you do that? She’s just a kid!’

‘She’s in her mid-twenties,’ Vlad said. ‘By the standards of my era, she’s old enough to be a wife and a mother. And if she’s neither of those things, she’s an old maid.’

Steve stared at him. ‘...What?’

Vlad then smirked. ‘You don’t know who I am, do you?’ He chuckled for a moment, and then he said the most terrifying sentence Steve had ever heard. ‘Hello, I am Dracula.’

***

Tony had to say, the footage of Steve freaking out over a real vampire was hilarious.

As Vlad himself had said, after confirming his identity as Vlad the Impaler to Tony, blood was an option but he was still human. He could still survive on ordinary food. And they’d all laughed at Steve’s demand for holy items for himself and his team, who were now living it up in private cells.

The guard he’d said it too had seemed to find it funny too. He’d laughed and looked at Steve through the bars. Then he’d said, ‘Bram Stoker and his associates feared the voivode because he was a mutant with a vampire physiology, and a strong inclination towards vengeance when crossed. Dracula is Romanian, he was a member of the nobility, he is immortal, and he does occassionally drink blood. Other than that, everything Stoker wrote in that book is pure fiction.’

‘How can you work for him?’ Steve demanded. ‘He’s a monster!’

‘He is to Romania what you are to America.’ That said, the guard left Steve standing there, jaw hanging open.

Tony sat back in the apartment and looked at Vlad. With Rogers out of the way, and several superhero teams all over the world throwing their two cents in, the Accords were back on track. Thaddeus Ross even found several American superhero teams (starting with the Defenders) going right over his head and straight to the UN with their concerns and reservations.

It wasn’t unheard of for enhanced to want to keep their identities secret, either for safety concerns or because they were technically underage, so Ross’s registration idea was already thrown out – especially when Daredevil had likened it to various other types of registration in the past which had resulted in disaster. Besides, the Accords really only counted for those who found themselves operating on an international scale.

Without the Avengers, Tony had tentatively mentioned what he’d seen on the other side of the portal in 2012.

Vlad had responded, pushed, and quickly gotten an international mobilisation on the matter.

It was nice to have actual back-up.

Then the phone call came. ‘Mr. Stark, the Russian authorities have a videotape that you’ll need to look at.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Bram Stoker _invented_ the concept of holy relics repelling vampires.


	5. Responses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony watches the video and reacts. His friends help him in every way they can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point (the beginning of the chapter) Radu is already training at the Kamar-Taj.

The tape ended.

Tony stared ahead blankly. He barely even felt Rhodey’s hand on his shoulder. All he could think about was the last time he saw his parents. He and his dad arguing again, his mother as the peacemaker, trying to reason with him. Him, in stubborn youthfulness, refusing to budge an inch. His father refusing.

Then, being told they’d died in an accident. Being told that his father had been drunk behind the wheel. He’d believed it. But now, he didn’t know why. He’d seen his father before they’d left. Howard hadn’t even smelt a little of alcohol. He hadn’t been acting at all in the sombre, depressed manner he usually did when he’d been drinking.

Howard had been stone sober.

Why the hell had Tony believed it?

Why the hell had he spent the last 25 years blaming his father for that accident?

Come to think of it, who was the son of a bitch who had decided to declare it an accident in the first place? His father had been bashed in the face, and his mom – _oh, God. Mom!_ – had been strangled. There was no way any coroner or first responder worth their weight would have seen those injuries and said “accident”. There should have been a full investigation.

Unless a HYDRA-infested S.H.I.E.L.D. had been behind it.

Tony was kind of glad that they’d previously removed Barnes from the building. Because some part of him wanted to tear after him and put him through the pain he’d put Tony’s parents through when he’d killed them. Another part of him, quietened by the agony of finally learning the truth, knew that Barnes had not made that conscious decision, and likely didn’t even remember doing it.

‘Tones?’ Rhodey pulled him out of his musings.

‘I...’ Tony’s voice was choked up.

The moment he tried to speak, he broke down crying.

***

Steve looked up as the door to his lone cell block opened and Crina was let in.

She dragged in with her a television set. He’d wondered why the guards had set up the chair outside his cell, he mused as Crina sat down in it. She flicked one leg over the other. There was something in her expression that sent a shiver up his spine. Crina regarded him for a moment before she lifted a remote control and hit the button on it.

The TV flared to life.

Steve watched, in mounting anxiousness, as he watched a videotape recording of Howard Stark and his wife being murdered by the Winter Soldier. He was disappointed that Howard didn’t seem to realise that it wasn’t Bucky killing them. Shouldn’t he know better? He’d known Bucky, after all.

‘It wasn’t him!’ Steve quickly told Crina as soon as the video ended.

‘It wasn’t who?’ she asked.

‘Bucky! That wasn’t Bucky!’

Crina lifted her finger and pointed to the now-blank screen. ‘Did you know about this?’

‘I didn’t know it was him!’ Steve quickly insisted.

‘I presume now you mean Howard Stark.’ Crina leaned over and pulled a folder out from the television cabinet. ‘Really? Let’s take a look at the facts.’ She flipped the folder open. ‘For the past two years, you have been taking Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, and, recently, Wanda Maximoff with you on quote-unquote Avengers missions, using the Quinjet and coming back with nothing in hand and nothing to report. These missions happened practically every week. You sometimes used money, which came from Tony’s account, to pay for stays at expensive hotels and eat in high-class restaurants. You lived out of the Avengers’ Compound, which is registered to, and maintained by, one Anthony Edward Stark. His people scanned the compound and found a bedroom, right next to yours, which appeared to be waiting for someone to move right into. Tony had no knowledge of this room.’

Steve snapped his teeth together. ‘That’s our home.’

‘Not anymore. Besides, you don’t own it. You were tenants. You’ve now been evicted.’

‘Tony can’t do that!’ Steve insisted.

‘His building – yes, he can.’ Crina shrugged and stood up. ‘Now, instead of this little temper tantrum, let’s look at something else. You claim you didn’t know that the Winter Soldier was responsible for the deaths of the Starks, yet you didn’t tell Tony what you were doing. Instead, you snuck around behind his back using his money and resources to try and find Barnes. And then, we can only assume, you intended for Tony to support him as he was supporting the rest of you.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘I think you’re trying to lead me up the garden path. Admit it: you did know that the Winter Soldier killed Howard and Maria Stark, didn’t you?’

Steve quickly averted his eyes. ‘I didn’t want to open up old wounds.’

‘What old wounds?’ Crina asked with a scoff. ‘If anything, it would have been a _relief_ for Tony to know. He spent 25 years blaming his father for that accident, because he was left with the impression that it happened because his father was drunk behind the wheel. The truth is that you were worried about how Tony would react so you thought it’d be easier to keep it a secret from him. But nothing stays secret forever. All dirty laundry must eventually be aired.’

She turned her back on him.

‘You will now be tried and likely convicted by Romanian law, and here is where you’ll serve your time.’ She began to walk away.

‘What about the others?’ Steve demanded.

‘Likewise,’ Crina said. ‘But Barnes will probably get a more lenient sentence due to diminished capacity and his cooperation since his arrest, the trigger event notwithstanding. The rest of you knew exactly what you were doing.’

‘Wanda—!’ Steve began.

Crina cut him off, though, as she packed up the television set. ‘Oh, yes. About her. When Radu appropriated her powers, he quickly realised they needed severe training. While her powers are based on all forms of manipulation, she focused on those that were malicious and destructive. The other powers are underused and underdeveloped. Now, why would a sweet girl, as you claim her to be, focus on the malicious and the destructive?’

‘She was misguided!’ Steve insisted. ‘HYDRA manipulated her!’

Crina looked at him, almost pitying, and shook her head. ‘You have got to stop this 1940s paternalism thing. If the people you’re doing it to aren’t getting insulted at the treatment, they’re excusing it like they might in a racist grandfather or they’re using your attitude to their own advantage.’ She took the television out. ‘In light of my brother’s findings, Wanda Maximoff will be shipped back to Sokovia and tried for treason.’

Steve wanted to protest, but he couldn’t think of an argument. All that came out of his mouth was, ‘You guys are real bastards, you know.’

Crina pushed the television set out ahead of herself. ‘No, only I am. Radu is completely legitimate.’

***

‘Are you sure you’re all right, Tony?’

Tony lightly smiled at the screen on the computer. Rhodey had told Pepper and Happy as soon as Tony had retreated to his workshop. As a result, when he’d come out he’d found them waiting to Skype him. ‘I’m always all right.’

‘Tony.’ Pepper used that tone.

Tony sighed. ‘I’m coping.’ He plopped down in the computer chair. ‘I spent 25 years blaming dad for the accident and then it turns out it wasn’t even an accident in the first place. Fury knew about it. Didn’t mention it because it didn’t serve his manipulation tactics any. Rogers didn’t say anything cause he’s a goddamn coward. I just—’ Tony cut himself off and pretty his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. ‘Why the hell do we Starks attract these assholes?’

Neither Pepper nor Happy said anything.

He was grateful for that. Tony took a deep breath. ‘Guys, I need you to do something for me.’

‘What is it, boss?’ Happy asked.

‘If there are any more of these types of people hanging around, I obviously won’t notice.’ His voice took on a pleading note. ‘Tell me.’

‘Tony,’ Pepper said, ‘we can only do that if we know when they do things that would serve as red flags. If you’d have told us about the taser threat Coulson made during the palladium incident, we never would have trusted him. That was a death threat, Tony.’ Her eyes watered a little but she quickly wiped it away. ‘We need to know when stuff like that happens so we can tell you when someone’s just an opportunistic bastard.’

Tony slowly nodded. ‘FRIDAY?’

‘I’ll send you two and the colonel man footage if things like that do happen again,’ FRIDAY promised.

‘Thank you, FRIDAY,’ Pepper said. ‘Now, Tony. You clear up the business you have there and then come home. I think we need to talk.’

Tony nodded.

***

 **2 Years Later**  
“No sweat”, Tony had said.

Bruce had wondered and followed him into the new Avengers Tower. There were a whole new bunch of Avengers – apparently Tony had been very busy. Then, Tony sat down at the computer and opened communications – to every other superhero team on Earth. Russia, Bulgaria, Japan, Romania.

Tony had, after introducing him to them, shown him their profiles.

Thanos had seemed so powerful, taking down Gods with ease. Yet...there were people, right here on Earth, who had things like primordial and vampire physiology. There was telekinesis and every kind of matter manipulation: blood, water, earth, smoke, mental. And every single one of them had been thoroughly trained in these abilities.

And they had spent the last two years preparing for Thanos.

Having his name, his power, and his reputation allowed them to begin in earnest.

Suddenly Bruce had a feeling they might be able to win.

***

They won.

Thor was astonished. Son of Stark had done this; had organised all of these warriors and called them to arms. They had risen up and protected the Mind Stone and the Time Stone. Many teams were dedicated to protecting the stones and many others were dedicated to killing the armies of the Mad Titan.

Thor’s new Stormbreaker Hammer had played a large part in killing Thanos himself. But the true champion that day had been, quite surprisingly, Son of Stark. Thor had never thought of him as a warrior. This was something that Thor had mentioned to Loki (who had, once again, faked his demise). His brother had merely chuckled and shook his head. It was only during the celebrations after the battle that Loki explained it.

‘Son of Stark has always been a warrior,’ Loki said. ‘He was taken hostage by savages who meant to kill him. He was severely injured in this time. Yet he still survived and emerged, leaving his captors for dead. Over the years, several groups have tried to kill him. They met the same fate. Even when I attacked him, he displayed no fear. Never presume just because he is intelligent that he is not a warrior.’

‘I second that,’ Prince Vlad of Romania said as he walked past.

Thor chuckled to himself. They were right. Despite his appearance, and the way he seemed unwilling to engage in combat – preferring to use words – Son of Stark had walked out of every attack upon him. He had walked out alive, and very much in one piece. Despite his appearance he really was, as Loki said, a warrior. He simply engaged in methods that were unfamiliar to the traditional means.

Son of Stark was easy to underestimate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided there'll be a sixth chapter, looking at the ex-Vengers and where they are currently.


	6. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We look at what Team Cap are up to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight disclaimer: I don't know anything about law or psychology so I brushed over a lot of it.

**Sokovia**  
Wanda dragged her feet as she was led to the execution chamber.

Romania had immediately extradited her to her home country. There, she stood trial for what she’d done under HYDRA’s power. They made her look like a monster; people had looked at her in disgust; people had stood on the streets, screaming out abuse at her. It got even worse when that bad man, Radu Tepes, had sent testimony of what he’d observed in her powers – which he now possessed! – whilst training them.

Wanda couldn’t even fight back because they’d immediately slapped a power-suppressing collar around her neck, like she was a dog.

Somehow, they came to the conclusion that the powers they got were based on their personalities. They used her own brother as precedence. They said that Pietro had been reckless and impulsive so he had gained super-speed. There was also input from around the world. The Tepes family all had blood-based powers. A letter came from America, from a man called Scott Summers, who had stated that both himself and his brother had laser-based powers. Several letters from others came from all over the world.

‘There is now enough of a sample group,’ the prosecution said, ‘to confirm that naturally-occurring powers within a single family are similar in nature.’

Whereas Wanda’s and Pietro’s powers had been completely different, but they correlated to the personality traits each had displayed.

In the end, Wanda was to be executed.

***

 **Romania**  
Steve sat in his cell, staring at the wall. For the past two years, he’d been in this cell. He’d been told that once he was finished here, he’d be extradited to Nigeria to serve time for his “crimes” there. It hardly seemed fair, that they’d had his trial without him. His lawyer had told him, however, that people were often tried in their absence if they couldn’t get to the trial themselves.

Steve was stuck in prison.

Like a common criminal.

All he’d been trying to do was save Bucky. From what he could find out, it looked like someone else had done it for him. It just rubbed Steve the wrong way. _He_ was supposed to save Bucky.

As part of his sentence, he had to have weekly meetings with a psychologist. When he’d been told the condition, he’d railed against it. But he had no choice. The psychologist, a man called Dr. Grant, sat with him for half an hour to an hour talking to him about all sorts of things. He wanted him to watch the news, to read the newspaper, to read up on politics, on law, and psychology, to look at the criticisms on him and actually listen.

Steve hadn’t seen the point. Dr. Grant had told him he needed to stop resisting the 21st Century and acclimatise to it. ‘You’re not going back to the 1940s,’ he’d said, ‘and they’re not coming back to you. The world has changed.’

Steve wanted to deny that was what he’d been doing. But he couldn’t get away with not doing those things, because every session, Dr. Grant would ask about them – about his questions and opinions on them. So the more he took in from them, the more he had to admit he had been resisting the changes that had taken place.

‘Humans,’ Dr. Grant had said, ‘are capable of adapting to even the most inhospitable circumstances, but we have to work for it.’

Steve didn’t like it. He especially didn’t like how he was being held in a country where his reputation meant nothing. They were not impressed by Captain America. They were far more impressed with the monster that was Count Dracula. They viewed _him_ as a hero. Steve couldn’t even begin to understand why.

One discussion with Dr. Grant on the matter had ended with a rather disturbing suggestion.

‘The version of the _voivode_ you are familiar with,’ Dr. Grant had said, ‘is the result of superstitious fear and the records of his enemies. While Vlad the Impaler is a monster to you, he is a hero to us. I wonder...you are a hero to America. Do you suppose the rest of the world might see you as a monster?’

Steve had quickly and loudly protested it, but Dr. Grant had remained unmoved.

Then news of Thanos came. Steve was sure that he and his team would be released to join in the fight and prove themselves heroes. But the enquiry to the warden had been met with amusement.

‘Mr. Rogers,’ he said, ‘for the past two years, every superhero team across the globe has been preparing for this battle. They are all in attendance. Among them is every power set imaginable. What could you and your followers possibly offer them that they do not already possess?’

Steve had no answer to that.

The fight came and went.

Steve sat uselessly in his cell.

He was not needed.

***

Natasha sat in her cell.

She was to serve her sentence here, before being extradited to Russia. And then Russia would put her on trial for treason. After all, she’d defected to their American enemies. That was why she shit-stirred as much as she could. Seeing as escape was impossible – she’d tried – she could only hope for an extended sentence here. As bad it was being locked up, it was far better than what would happen to her if Russia got their hands on her.

Still, Natasha kept up with the news of the outside world – looking for any little thing she could use as a bargaining chip to get out.

Tony’s networking efforts were well known. He was reaching out to and coordinating with every other superhero team on earth. Rather than being seen as a nefarious plot to grab power, as Natasha had seen it (that’s what it would’ve been if it was her), it actually had seemed to reassure the world.

As one journalist had put it, ‘If the superheroes of the world are cooperating, it significantly lowers the possibility of disasters like Lagos and Bucharest.’

So, when the news of Thanos came, Natasha knew it was not a ticket out.

There was nothing she could offer them that someone else couldn’t. The superheroes’ powers could be accessed via various websites. But the powers were very unspecific. For instance, Tony’s profile listed his powers (which he didn’t have any of) as “mechanised suit of armour – gold titanium” and “genius-level intellect”. The profiles of the Tepes family listed them as “vampire physiology”, “blood manipulation”, and “blood transcendency”. There was a lot of other powers listed off too, for many others.

Enhanced condition.

Primordial being mimicry.

Hypercompetence.

That last one had given her pause, until she realised it essentially meant being naturally skilled in various fields at unnatural levels. Regardless, the point was that they had every superpower and skill set under the sun. It rankled to think that there were people out there more useful and more talented than her. Natasha would like to think it was just empty boasting, but several of these people had taken to carrying cameras around with them so the public could _see_ what they were doing. Natasha had watched some of them and saw these people pulling off stunts and manoeuvres she could only dream of.

Which left her only hope to extend her sentence here so she didn’t end up in Russia.

***

Sam knew he was in better conditions than the others had gotten.

His involvement in the collapsing tunnel had been minimal so he was just spending a handful of years in a low-security prison as his sentence. It was better than what he could have hoped for. Still, he was being _thoroughly_ educated on exactly how he’d screwed up. Once he was finished with this sentence, he’d have to go back to America and answer for his part in the DC disaster.

At the time, he’d thought he was doing the right thing: fighting alongside Captain America to bring down HYDRA. Now, he discovered the truth.

HYDRA hadn’t even been touched by them. But who had? Every single good, honest S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was just in there doing their job. Them, their families, their loved ones.   
They were attacked in their homes and killed. And those agents in the field at the time? Well, they were immediately caught.

Sam shuddered to think of what happened to the ones in places like North Korea and Russia.

But the damage wasn’t as extensive as it could’ve been. But it wasn’t Steve who mitigated it; he didn’t even think of all those people. No. It was _Tony Stark_. As soon as Tony (who Sam had accused of being a lazy, self-centred white boy who never did a day’s work in his life) had found out about the data-dump, he’d rushed to save everyone he could. He’d opened SI’s doors, internationally, as a refuge for all those who had been caught up in the whirlwind they’d created. He’d worked his fingers to the bone trying to extract and save every field agent he could. He’d been the real hero that day.

Then Steve and Sam hadn’t shown up for the Senate hearing, and Nat had spat in the faces of the victims.

The very least Sam could do was answer for it.

***

 **America**  
Seeing as Clint has only really illegally entered the country, he’d been shipped back to America to go to trial for trespass and property damage onto the Compound. The trespass had ended with him slapped with a large fine – although Laura informed him it was pretty low considering who the building that he trespassed onto belonged to. For that little explosion he’d made to draw Vision’s attention to get him away from Wanda, he got five years in prison.

‘It’s not the worst thing that could’ve happened, you know,’ Laura said on one of her weekly visits. ‘Besides, now you know what was happening, aren’t you glad the Tepes family stopped you.’

‘Yeah, I guess,’ Clint said.

Radu Tepes had sent a report of Wanda’s powers, which he’d observed now that he had them, to Clint’s defence lawyer. It turned out her powers were based on manipulating, or enhancing, negative emotions. The only positive emotion she focused on was sympathy – and that was sympathy _towards her_.

They’d sent Clint to a psychologist – same one they sent Barnes to – and he’d confirmed it. He’d said to Clint on the matter, when he’d insisted he was resistant because of Loki’s attack, ‘Taking full control of a person’s mind and merely amplifying certain emotions in them are two completely different forms of mind control. Your mind may be resistant to one kind, but the other is far more subtle, and attacks you in a different way.’

Clint sighed. ‘How are the kids?’

‘They’re fine,’ Laura said.

***

Bucky had been found Not Guilty of all of his crimes on the grounds of diminished capacity.

His assassinations were done under brainwashing. His mind was still not all there when Steve rushed into the apartment in Bucharest so it was determined that Steve had induced a panic attack on him and triggered his fight or flight response. All three members of the Tepes family had testified on his behalf that he had cooperated with the authorities outside of being triggered or being in an induced panic.

In the end, while found not guilty, Bucky was sent to a psychiatric facility until he could function normally in society again. Bucky didn’t mind it. There was a strict schedule to keep, and he had to stay within his own ward. At the end of the day, though, he could move around as he liked and he was treated well.

Dr. Howland, the psychiatrist who’d been assigned to him, sat down with him every week to talk. Sometimes they talked about his memories of Brooklyn. Sometimes about the things he did as the Winter Soldier. Those were the hard ones, but he knew he owed it to the people he’d killed, and their families, to tell.

Several disappearances and other such incidents where the victim’s fate was unknown had gotten “case closed” slapped on them since he’d started talking.

The worst one of all was Howard.

Unlike the other “missions”, Howard hadn’t been a faceless person who he couldn’t pick out of the street. He wasn’t just a target to Bucky – he was to the Winter Soldier, but not to Bucky. To Bucky, he’d been an idol. He’d looked up to him as a kid and he’d liked the man when he got to know him. His pleas for the Soldier to help his wife were far more painful to Bucky than any other man’s pleas of the same had been.

Bucky had looked up to Howard, but even that couldn’t save the man; even the fact that Howard had _recognised_ him hadn’t snapped him out of it.

Howard and Maria Stark had still died.

Their son had still been left as an orphan at the tender age of 17.

He spent hours talking to Dr. Howland about that.

‘What you’re feeling isn’t unusual, James,’ Dr. Howland said. ‘Your mind was taken from you and you were forced to kill a man you liked and admired. The fact that he recognised you would make it worse. But you should remember that you were merely the gun. The ones truly to blame are the ones who pulled the trigger. You need to accept what happened and learn to live with it.’

There were several exercises that Dr. Howland gave him, one of which was writing down his feelings on paper and getting them out of his system. So, that was what Bucky did. At the end as he looked at what he’d written, he found that he felt lighter. This would not being Howard and Maria Stark back – or any of the victims. It would not erase the pain that he’d caused their families, no matter how indirectly, but it was a start.

For the first time in years, Bucky felt hope.


End file.
